The UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, leaves after meeting the leader of the Houthi Revolutionary Committee, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, in Sana’a at the weekend.
Photograph: Yahya Arhab/EPA

A United Nations resolution calling for a ceasefire and the resumption of humanitarian deliveries in Yemen has been stalled by the US and other security council members after a lobbying campaign by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to diplomats at the UN.

UK tables UN security council resolution calling for Yemen truce

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The resolution, drafted by Britain, called for a halt to the fighting for control of the port city of Hodeidah, the main entry point for supplies, and for guarantees from the warring sides that food and medicine could be delivered safely to a country at risk of a famine that could threaten the lives of 14 million Yemenis.

The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, had strenuously opposed the resolution when the UK foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, visited Riyadh on 12 November. The UK pressed ahead, limiting the proposed ceasefire to Hodeidah and avoiding any direct criticism of the Saudi-led coalition in the text, which was circulated a week later. British diplomats thought they had US support. The secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, and the defence secretary, James Mattis, had issued a call for a ceasefire at the end of October.

But a UK push last week to have the resolution adopted quickly, ran into opposition led by the US mission. The US, China, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia all argued that the resolution should be delayed until the start of planned peace talks between the exile Yemeni government and Houthi rebels in Stockholm, which the UN special envoy, Martin Griffiths, hopes to broker at some point between 3 and 13 December.

“We look forward to offering more substantive comments to the draft once we have more information on the outcomes of the upcoming consultations,” the US mission told other council members in a message cited by Agence France-Presse.

A spokesman for the US mission said on Wednesday: “We remain engaged in the negotiations on the draft resolution. Our primary goal is a resolution to the conflict, and we support special envoy Griffiths’s efforts to achieve that goal.”

Yemen: up to 85,000 young children dead from starvation

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According to diplomatic sources, only Poland, the Netherlands and Peru actively supported quick passage of the resolution. France, Russia and Sweden were among the remaining council members who did not express an opinion. British diplomats had argued that the threat of famine was so catastrophic that there could be no delay, and were taken aback by the lack of support.

Diplomats familiar with the negotiations said Saudi Arabia and UAE intensively lobbied council members over the past week, threatening that the talks in Stockholm might not take place if the resolution passed.

“The Saudis blackmailed a number of missions saying it was possible the [Saudi-backed] government of Yemen won’t turn up in Stockholm if this goes through,” one diplomat said. “The reason [the Saudis and Emiratis] are so against this resolution is they just don’t want the security council to constrain their capacity for military action. They believe they can finish off the Houthis.”

A previous UK attempt to pass a ceasefire resolution on Yemen failed in similar circumstances in late 2016 after the outgoing secretary of state, John Kerry, persuaded his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, to drop the initiative on the grounds it would interfere with a peace initiative.

The state department spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, said on Wednesday: “The thing that we are focused on – I don’t want to say the most right now, but one of our top things that we’re focusing on – is supporting the work that Martin Griffiths is doing right there. He has a process in place.”

The UK foreign office issued a statement saying: “Discussions on the resolution are ongoing and we will put it to a vote at the point that best delivers for the people of Yemen.”

On Monday, the heads of five major aid agencies warned that the US would share the blame for the worst famine in decades if it did not stop its military support for the Saudi-led coalition.

“If the government of Yemen, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, [the Houthi group] Ansar Allah, and other parties to the conflict fail to take these steps, and if the United States does not use all levers of pressure to compel them to do so, responsibility for the deaths of many more Yemeni civilians will lie not only with the parties to the conflict, but with the United States as well,” said the statement signed by leaders of the International Rescue Committee, Oxfam America, Care US, Save the Children USA and the Norwegian Refugee Council USA.